Griffiths hits the spot and brings Jets back to life in heart-stopper

Date: November 25 2012

James Gardiner

THE Newcastle Jets came back from the dead twice to snatch a thrilling draw with Melbourne Heart at AAMI Park on Saturday.

The Jets trailed 2-0 after five minutes and 3-2 with five minutes remaining. But a penalty to Ryan Griffiths in the 86th minute after substitute James Virgili was brought down by Simon Colosimo enabled the visitors to secure an unlikely point.

The Jets looked gone when Richie Garcia scored after 35 seconds and Josip Tadic added a second from the penalty spot four minutes later.

Inside the first minute, Patrick Gerhardt knocked a diagonal pass over the top intended for David Williams. Jets fullback Scott Neville stuck out a foot, hoping to clear, but instead the ball fell to an unmarked Garcia who slotted past Matt Nash.

It only got worse for the Jets. Young Socceroos defender Connor Chapman, who had come in for his starting debut at the expense of Tiago, had a horror introduction four minutes later, clipping the foot of Garcia in the box. The contact was enough for referee Jarred Gillett to point to the spot. Tadic sent Nash the wrong way as the heads on the Jets bench slumped. Williams had a chance to make it 3-0 in the 15th minute but was unable to control his volley.

The Jets made a slightly better start to the second half, but coach Gary van Egmond had seen enough by the 55th minute and introduced Craig Goodwin for James Brown.

While Heart dominated the opening 55 minutes, the introduction of Goodwin sparked a spirited fightback from the visitors. The former Heart attacker took less than a minute to peg a goal back for the Jets, getting on the end of a Ruben Zadkovich cross and squeezing an angled shot past Clint Bolton. Zadkovich did it all himself eight minutes later when he produced a thunderbolt from 25 metres to level the scores. But the drama wasn't over. Garcia shifted the momentum again when he collected his second, slotting home a Matt Thompson cross at the far post in the 71st minute.

It was helter skelter for the final five minutes in a game of twists and turns but neither side was able to grab a winner. Hoping to tighten up a defence that had leaked 13 goals in seven games, van Egmond made four changes. Matt Nash replaced Mark Birighitti (fractured jaw) in goals, Dominik Ritter returned from a quad strain for Josh Brillante and Brazilian playmaker Bernardo Ribeiro replaced James Virgili.